Flat folding cup



April 30, 1963 R. BLASER 3,087,640

FLAT FOLDING CUP 7 Original Filed Sept. 22, 1966 Z Sheets-Sheet 1 IENTOR B05627? BZaser April 30, 1963 INVENTOR. Robe/Z BZasa' BY UnitedStates Patent Otlice 3,687,640 Patented Apr. 30, 1963 3,087,640 FLATFOLDING CUP Robert Blaser, Featherhed Lane, Branford, Conn. Continuationof abandoned application Ser. No. 57,763,

Sept. 22, 1960. This application Mar. 14, 1962, S82- No. 181,228

1 Claim.

This invention relates to collapsible drinking cups in general, and toflat folding cups in particular.

This application is a continuation of my prior application, Serial No.57,763, filed September 22, 1960.

A cup of the general type with which the present invention is concernedis disclosed in the patent to Titchborne, No. 1,117,109, dated November10, 1914. This cup consists of two elongated odd-shaped leaf-likemembers or halves of resiliently flexible material which have opposedfloating pivot connections near their opposite ends and are flat andsuperposed in the unfolded condition of the cup. To fold the cup foruse, the user grasps the leaflike members, then flexes them betweentheir pivot con nections and simultaneously turns them in oppositedirections about their pivot connections into partial cone formationsuntil they complement each other in a cone-like receptacle, in thecourse of which the inner member passes through a zone of interferenceof the outer member. After use, the cup may be unfolded by forcing itsmembers in the reverse direction until they snap back into their flatsuperposed condition. However, this cup was found to be quite unwieldyand requiring considerable eflfort and dexterity to manipulate,especially in folding it into cup form, and more important, when foldedby the average user was found to leak so prohibitively as to be to allpractical intents and purposes useless as a drinking cup.

It is the primary aim and object of the present invention to provide afolding cup of this type which for its folding and unfolding requireshardly any effort and dexterity on the part of the user, and isassuredly leakproof when folded by any, and even the clumsiest, user.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a cup of thistype of which the cup members with their floating pivot connections areso arranged that for their folding into and unfolding from cup form theyrequire mostly mere sliding on each other followed by simple pivotingabout their pivot connections, and vice versa, thereby to achieve theiraforementioned manipulation with hardly any effort and dexterity on thepart of any user.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a cup of thistype of which the cup members with their pivot connections are furtherarranged so that on their folding into cup form the inner member willyield through the interference zone of the outer member, and bothmembers will on their continued folding beyond the interference becomeresiliently flexed with an increasing force which on release of eithermember will snap both members back into cup form so forcefully as todrive the inner member sufficiently into the interference zone of theouter member to form at their line of contact an assuredly lea proofseal between them.

Other objects and advantages will appear to those skilled in the artfrom the following, considered in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings.

In the accompanying drawings, in which certain modes of carrying out thepresent invention are shown for illustrative purposes:

FIG. 1 is a top view of an unfolded cup embodying the present invention;

I FIG. 2 is an end view of the same unfolded cup;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary top view of the same cup in partly foldedcondition;

FIG. 4 is a section taken on the line 44 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 4A is a section through the cup in further folded condition;

FIG. 5 is a top view of the cup in an overfolded condition into which itis normally manipulated for its snapback into normal folded condition;

FIG. 5A is a fragmentary top view of the cup at an intermediate stage ofits folding;

FIGS. 6 and 7 are top and side views, respectively, of the cup in itsnormal folded condition;

FIG. 8 is a section through the folded cup as taken on the line 8-8 ofFIG. 6; and

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary top view of a modified unfolded cup of thepresent invention.

Referring to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1 to 8thereof, the reference numeral 20 designates a cup of folding type whichconsists of two members or halves 22 and 24 that are pivotallyconnected. The cup members 22 and 24, which are made of relatively thinand resilient material and preferably metal such as stainless steel, arefiat and superposed in the unfolded condition of the cup (FIGS. 1 and 2)and are in the form of complement-a1 partial cones in the foldedcondition of the cup (FIGS. 6 to 8).

The cup members 22 and 24 are odd-shaped for their resilient formationinto partial cones which complement each other in the folded conditionof the cup to form a sealed receptacle. The cup members 22 and 24, whileodd-shaped, are presently individually symmetrical about a median lineor axis x which extends at right angles to another line x passingthrough, and intersects the latter line midway between, the pivotconnections 26 between the cup members (FIG. 1). The cup members arealso generally elongated in the direction of the line x.

The shapes of the cup members 22 and 24 may vary quite widely, dependingon the desired size and form of the unfolded cup. As to the present formof the cup member 22, its peripheral edge 23 is shaped (FIG. 1) to formthe desired base of its partial cone form in the folded cup (FIGS. 6 to8), while its edge 30 is shaped to conform to the curvature of the cupmember 24 in its partial cone form in the folded cup at the line ofcontact of both cup members to seal the folded cup thereat. The sealingedge 30 of the cup member 22 is over the greater part of its lengthpresently shaped (FIG. 1) to conform in the folded cup to the line ofintersection x" between the cup member 24 in its partial cone form and aplane normal to the base of the latter (FIGS. 6 and 8). As to thepresent form of the cup member 24, its edge 32 (FIG. 1) is shaped toform the desired base of its partial cone form in the folded cup (FIGS.6 to 8), while its edge 34 is shaped to terminate its partial cone formoutside the confines of the receptacle of the folded cup in the firstplace and along .a desired smooth line in the second place (FIGS. 7 and8).

The pivot connections 26 between the cup members 22 and 24 near theiropposite ends are of floating type and comprise pivots 36 and slots 38,of which the pivots 36 are presently and preferably provided on the cupmember 22 and the slots 38 are provided in the other cup member 24. Thepivots 26 and slots 38 are presently equally spaced from the median linex and the slots 38 are identically inclined to this median line x.

Opposite end lengths 30 of the edge 30 of the cup member 22 arepresently formed by ear extensions 40 (FIG. 1) which in the folded cupextend deeper into the cone-shaped cup member 24 than any other part ofthe cone-shaped cup member 22 (FIGS. 6 and 8).

To fold the fiat cup, the members 22 and 24 are grasped near andsubstantially midway of their respective edges 28 and 32 and drawn apartuntil the pivots 36 reach the opposite ends 38" of the slots 38 (FIGS. 3and 4). In thus drawing or sliding the cup members apart they are flexedinto preliminary partial cones by cam action between the pivots 36 andrespective slots 38, with the cup member 22 being compelled into apartial cone of much smaller slant than that of the cone-shaped member24 primarily by the curvature of the latter at and near the pivots 36,as will be readily understood. While still grasping the cup members inthe intermediate folded stage of FIGS. 3 and 4, preferably more inwardlynow, they are then turned out about their pivot connections 26 throughthe passing stage of and in the direction of the arrows 42 and 44 inFIG. 4A until they are preferably overfolded to an extent like orsimilar to that shown in FIG. 5, whereupon either cup member is releasedfor resilient spring-back of both cup members into their normal foldedreceptacle-forming condition in which the edge 30 of the cup member 22bears against and conforms to the curved surface of the cup member 24throughout their line of contact to seal the receptacle thereat (FIGS. 6and 8). To unfold the cup for return to its fiat condition, it is merelynecessary to turn the cup members in the opposite directions about theirpivot connections 26 until the same arrive at the intermediate stage ofFIG. 4, whereupon the cup members are simply slid toward each otheruntil the pivots 36 are at or near the slot ends 38' and the cup membersreassume their natural fiat condition. Of course, the cup members willon their described turning into folded and unfolded condition besubjected to a snap action from each other which will be fully describedhereinafter.

It is the most basic consideration in the design of the present cup thatthe latter must meet the imperative requirement of being trulyleakproof. To this end, the present cup is so designed that the sealingedge 30 of the cup member 22 will respond to the resiliency of bothhighly flexed cup members in the folded cup by resiliently bearingagainst and conforming itself to the curved surface of the confrontingcup member 24 throughout their unbroken line or area of contact and evenat the very apex of the cup receptacle. This is achieved by arrangingthe cup members and their pivot connections so that lines 1 and l of thecone-shaped cup members 22 and 24 in the folded cup which pass throughthe apex a of the cup receptacle and thereat extend at right angles tothe sealing edge 30 of the cup member 22 (FIG. 6) form within theconfines of the cup receptacle an obtuse angle a (FIG. 8). To this end,the cup member 24 is presently shaped so that the slant angle ,8 of itspartial cone shape (FIG. 8) is sufficiently large for a substantialdepth and, hence, volume of the cup receptacle for the size of the cupmembers, while the cup member 22 is shaped so that the slant angle 7 ofits partial cone shape is sufficiently smaller to be consistent with therequirement that the contained angle a of both folded cup members beobtuse. The slant angle ,8 of the folded cup member 24 is in the presentexample in the neighborhood of 45 degrees, while the slant angle of theother folded cup member 22 is quite considerably less than 45 degreesand is in the present example roughly 30 degrees (FIG. 8). To obtain forthe cup member 22 the considerably smaller slant angle 7, theaforementioned plane of intersection of the partial cone shape of thecup member, at the line x" in FIG. 8, in accordance with which theexemplary sealing edge 30 has been laid out so as to conform to the lineof intersection x" in the folded cup, has been spaced correspondinglywidely from a plane x' parallel thereto and passing through the pivotconnections 26, as will be readily understood.

In thus shaping the cup members 22 and 24, the same may be foldedsomewhat beyond the further intermediate stage shown in FIG. 4A beforefurther folding of the cup member 22 is resisted by the other cup member24 owing to the fact that the sealing edge 30 then enters a constrictedregion of the partial cone shape of the cup member 24 in which thelatter is shorter than the sealing edge 30 across the pivot connections26. Thus, the cup member 22 will on its further fold encounter at firstincreasing and then decreasing resistance or interference from the othercup member 24 on its passage through this constricted region of thelatter which extends aproximately from the point p in FIG. 4A to thepoint p in FIG. 8. Accordingly, it is only by additional resilientdistortion of the cup member 22 that the same may pass through thisinterference region of the other cup member 24 without sufferingpermanent distortion which would render the cup of no further use. Thisadditional, temporary resilient distortion of the cup member 22 ischaracteristically shown in FIG. 5A by the irregular outline of thesealing edge 30 which indicates that the latter proceeds through theinterference region of the cup member 24 in snake fashion best suitedfor its passage of the latter with the least resistance therefrom. Thesealing edge 30 of the folding cup member 22 is thus temporarilydistorted in snake or S fashion which characteristically brings about asnap action of this cup member into its normal folded condition (FIGS. 6and 8) while part of this edge 30 is still within the interferenceregion of the cup member 24. In this connection, the cup member 22 maywell be in the condition shown in FIG. 5A just prior to its snap intoits normal folded condition (FIGS. 6 and 8), and it is entirely possiblethat the cup member 22 in FIG. 5A is then in part already in normalfolded condition as indi cated by the normal folded position of the earextension 40 and the nearby straight delineation 30" of part of thesealing edge 30, while the remainder of the cup member is still far fromnormal folded condition as indicated by the wavy outline of theremainder of the sealing edge 30 and by the illustration of the otherear extension 40 which has then not folded very much beyond itsintermediate folding stage in FIGS. 3 and 4.

The snake-like temporary distortion of the sealing edge 30 is thus quitepronounced and prevails over a substantial part of the passage of thecup member 22 through the constricted region of the other cup member 24.However, it may readily be deduced from FIGS. 5A and 8 that due to therelatively large obtuse angle a between the cup members all along thesealing edge 30 and during the temporary distortion of the latter, theresiliency of a wide marginal portion of the cup member 22 along theedge 30 readily permits the latter to dodge in snake-like fashionthrough the restricted region of the cup member 24 without encounteringmuch resistance from the latter, yet be resiliently urged against thecup member 24 so uniformly as to conform itself fully to the confrontingcurvature of the latter already at the stage of FIG. 5A. Thus, the edge30 in the partly folded cup of FIG. 5A may already seal the same aseffectively as it seals the normal folded cup of FIGS. 6 and 8.

It is, of course, the great resilient urgency of the edge 30 of the cupmember 22 into contact with the cup member 24 and its self-conformity tothe curvature of the latter throughout the folded cup, and even beforethe same is fully folded, which makes for a most effective seal of thecup receptacle. On the other hand, the great resiliency of the cupmember 24 at its edge 30 and its ready conformity to the confrontingcurvature of the other cup member 24 on folding the cup make forperformance of the latter task with the least resistance from the cupmember 24 and, hence, with the least effort, and makes it extremelyunlikely that either cup member will be permanently distorted on eventhe clumsiest manipulation. How thoroughly satisfactory the seal of thecup receptacle by the edge 30 really is is further evidenced by the factthat on permitting the preferably considerably over-folded cup members,such as in FIG. 5, for instance, freely to snap back into their normalfolded condition (FIG. 6) the sealing edge 30 may readily be observed tohave the slightest beginning of a snake-like extent, especially near thereceptacle apex a. This clearly indicates that the edge 30 will evenresort to snake-like distortion as required to close any gap therealongas much so at the receptacle apex a as at any other place.

As already mentioned, the task of folding and unfolding the cup isgreatly facilitated by the inappreciable resistance encountered by thecup member 22 on its passage through the constricted or interferenceregion of the other cup member 24. This task does not even requireappreciable manual flexing of the cup members, for the latter willrespond by flexing into .and from their partial cone shapes largely toharmless and effortless twists of one of their adjacent ends about thepivot connection 26 thereat. Thus, in the course of folding the cup asshown in FIG. 5A, the approximately folded ends at the top mayconveniently have been thus folded by holding the cup members somedistance inwardly from the top pivot connection 216' and primarilysliding the cup member 22 on the other cup member 24 counterclockwiseabout the pivot connection 26' until the cup snaps into its normalfolded condition very shortly after passing through the condition shownin FIG. 5A.

The arrangement of the floating pivot connections is also advantageousin even further facilitating the task of folding the cup by dividingthis task in two distinct successive manipulative steps of exceedingsimplicity. Thus, the inclination of the slots 38 to the median line x(FIG. 1) is such that they releasably lock the cup members in theirpreliminary partial cone shapes (:FIGS. 3 and 4), with the user of thecup then free to pause and regr-asp the cup members for their mostconvenient further folding into receptacle form as described.

The specific arrangement of the floating pivot connections 26 is furthermost significant in obtaining a leakproof seal between the cup members22 and 24 in their folded cup form. This, it will be noted in FIG. 1that each pivot 36 on the cup member 22 is spaced considerably inwardlyfrom the edge '28 thereof which is preferably of circular, or nearlcircular, outline so as to lie substantially in a plane in the partialcup-shape of the member 22 (FIGS. 7 and 8). Each of these pivots 36 isin any of the folded stages of the members 22 and 24 in FIGS. 3 to 8similarly widely spaced inwardly from the edge 32 of the other cupmember 24 which is also of preferably circular, or nearly circular,outline so as to lie substantially in a plane in the partial cup-shapeof the member '24 (FIGS. 7 and 8). In thus having the pivotsconsiderably spaced inwardly from the edges 28 and 32 of the cup members22 and 24 in any of their folded stages, these cup members will, ontheir folding beyond the normal cup formation in FIG. 8 to theoverfolded condition in FIG. 5, for example, become resiliently flexedincreasingly between their pivot connections 26, with their resilientfiexure acting on release of either overfolded members 22 and 24 to snapboth members back into their cup formation so forcefully that thesealing edge 30 of the member 22 enters the interference region of theother member 24 slightly, but nevertheless sufficiently to becomedistorted as required in order to close any gap therealong. Thisexplains the earlier described behaviour of the edge 30 of the cupmember 22 that it will even resort to snake-like distortion as requiredto close any gap therealong as much so at the receptacle apex a as atany other place. It is, of course, due to the considerable inwardspacing of the pivots 36 from the edges 28 and 32 of the cup members 22and 24 that the latter will, on their over folding beyond cup formation,be compelled into increasingly steeper partial cone formations and,hence, increasing flexure between their pivots 36, and their increasingflexure from this cause is clearly discernible from a comparison betweenthe cup members in their normal cup formation of FIG. 6 and in theirexemplary overfolded condition of FIG. 5.

To attain the described effective snap-back of the overfolded cupmembers 22 and 24 into their cup form, the inward spacing of the pivots36 from the edges 28 and 32 of these members in any of their foldedstages must be quite substantial, and may be as in the exemplary cupshown in the drawings in which they are spaced from the respective edges28 and 32 a distance of somewhat more than one-fourth of the radius ofthe substantially circular edge 28 of the cup member 28. In general,effective snap-back of the cup members 22 and 24 from overfoldedcondition into cup form will be achieved as long as the radius of thesubstantially circular base-forming edge of either cup member 22 or 24is no more than several times the distance of either pivot 36 fromeither nearest edge 28 or 32 of the cup members 22 and 24 in any oftheir folded stages.

It is in view of this significant substantially equal inward spacing ofthe pivots from the base-forming edges 28 and 32 of the cup members 22and 24 in any of their folded stages (FIGS. 3 to 8) and the requirementthat the pivot connections 26 permit these cup member-s to lie flat andsuperposed when unfolded (FIGS. 1 and 2), that the slots 38 are arrangedso that on engagement of the pivots 36 with the slot ends 38" the formerare substantially equally spaced from the base-forming edges of both cupmembers as desired for their cup formation, while on engagement of thepivots 36 with the opposite slot ends 38 the former are much closerspaced from the baseforming edge 32 of the cup member 24 in order thatboth cup members may lie flat on each other when unfolded (FIG. 1). Itis for these purposes that the slots 38 in the cup member 24 aredesigned in the first place to slant from their ends '38 to theiropposite ends 38" away from the adjacent base-forming edge 32 of cupmember 24 as shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 7. Of course, the slant of theslots 38 in this respect has further been selected to achieve thepreviously described camming of the cup members 22 and 24 into andreleasable retention in their intermediate folded stage (FIGS. 3 and 4)on merely sliding them apart when unfolded (FIG. 1). Further, while theear extensions 40 on the cup member 2'2 will on overfolding of both cupmembers beyond their cup formation assist somewhat in their snap-back onrelease into their cup formation, these ear extensions are providedprimarily for the purpose of sealing the considerably inwardly spacedslots 38 (FIGS. 6 and 7) and thereby greatly enhancing the leakproofvolume of the folded l inally, reference is had to FIG. 9 which shows afiat folding cup 28a that may in all respects be like the described cup20, except that the cup member 22a of the present cup lacks the earextensions 40 of cup 20. The present cup 20a, if in all other respectslike the cup 20, would, however leak at the slots 38a but would beleakproof therebelow in its folded condition.

The invention may be carried out in other specific ways than thoseherein set forth without departing from the spirit and essentialcharacteristics of the invention, and the present embodiments are,therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and notrestrictive, and all changes coming within the meaning and equivalencyrange of the appended claim are intended to be embraced therein.

A folding cup, comprising two resiliently flexible elongated leaf-likemembers lying flat on each other when unfolded and having opposite sideedges of which opposite first side edges of said members aresubstantially part-circular, and pivot connections between said membersabout which to fold them into a cup of complemental partial cones inwhich said first edges form the bases of the respective partial conesand the other side edge of one of said members bears against theremaining member to seal the cup at the junction of said partial cones,said pivot connections being formed by two pivots on said one memberspaced longitudinally thereof and spaced radially inwardly a certaindistance from said first edge thereof, and slots in the other memberreceiving said pivots, respectively, and having first ends spaced fromeach other equally as said pivots and spaced less than said distancefrom said first edge of said other member, and said slots extendingtoward the other side edge of said other member to their other ends at aslant away from said first edge thereof so as to be spaced substantiallysaid distance therefrom at said other ends, with said other slot endsbeing spaced apart sufiiciently wider than said pivots to cause saidslots and pivots to cam said members into and releasably lock them inpreliminary partial cone formations on sliding said one member with itspivots to said other slot ends, said certain distance being no more thanseveral times shorter than the radius of said first edge of said onemember so that no overfolding of both members beyond their cup form andrelease of either member both overfolded members will snap back into cupfrom and seal the same, and opposite ends of said other side edge ofsaid one member are formed by ears on said one member covering saidslots in the cup form of said members to seal the cup thereat.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,117,109 Tichborne Nov. 10, 1914

